CHICAGO – Problems for researchers in enrolling lung cancer studies, as well as the woes felt by patients trying to gain entry so they can try prospective new drugs, could largely go away if investigators adopt eligibility criteria backed by work detailed at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting.

CHICAGO – Seattle Genetics Inc. (Seagen) and Tokyo-based partner Astellas Pharma Inc. saw their antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) enfortumab vedotin (EV) highlighted at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting by way of the abstract for data from a single-arm phase II trial in 125 patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer.

CHICAGO – Merck & Co. Inc.'s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) gained still more laurels at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting, where attendees learned of two victorious experiments with the anti-PD-1 immunotherapy.

"We're running as fast as we can to look at other populations," said Cara Therapeutics Inc. CEO Derek Chalmers after the company disclosed positive top-line data from the pivotal phase III trial called Kalm-1 with Korsuva (CR-845/difelikefalin) for injection in hemodialysis (HD) patients with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease (CKD)-associated pruritus (CKD-aP).

Word from the FDA to Axsome Therapeutics Inc. about the effort with its oral N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, AXS-05, in depression – and the company's accelerated push with the compound – had Wall Street watching the NMDA space with even more interest than usual.

With efficacy that hit the primary endpoint but fell below what Wall Street watched for, Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. hopes a sampling program and BCX-7353's oral route will help gain market share for the once-daily kallikrein inhibitor to prevent hereditary angioedema (HAE).

"This is just a tiny seed round," Detlev Mennerich, of Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF), conceded, telling BioWorld however that backers of Rinri Therapeutics Ltd. "have a clear vision" how the firm can use its newly banked £1.4 million (US$1.7 million) to develop chemistry, manufacturing and controls before going back to the market in a year or so for "north of $10 million" in series A money and then taking aim at phase Ib/IIa work.

Cytokinetics Inc. CEO Robert Blum said it's "highly unlikely" that the phase III trial planned with fast skeletal muscle troponin activator reldesemtiv, also known as CK-2127107, will begin this year, "just knowing what the tasks in front of us are." But the South San Francisco-based firm, with partner Astellas Inc., of Tokyo, is moving ahead with the candidate in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) despite results from the Fortitude-ALS trial showing that the drug missed statistical significance for the primary efficacy analysis after 12 weeks of treatment.

With abstracts presaging the customary avalanche of data due from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting next month, the mechanism of KRAS inhibition caused an expectedly large share of talk, though efforts remain far from mature, and too fresh for big conclusions.